Trump news – live: Elon Musk praises ‘effective’ previous administration but leaves out
Donald Trump is supposedly writing a book on how presidency was stolen from him
As the 6 January committee prepares for a summer of what promise to be shocking and disturbing hearings about the Capitol riot, Donald Trump has laid into committee member Liz Cheney, claiming that she has taken her opposition to him to insane extremes.
“From what people tell me, from what I hear from other congressmen, she’s like a crazed lunatic, she’s worse than anyone else,” he told the Washington Post in an interview. “From what I’ve heard, she’s worse than any Democrat.”
The committee’s first public hearing since last year is set for 9 June.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is facing a complex night of Republican primaries, as two of his most conspicuous endorsees, Madison Cawthorn and Mehmet Oz, await potentially career-changing results in North Carolina and Pennsylvania respectively.
Where Mr Cawthorn has become a paraiah in much of the GOP because of various recent scandals, Dr Oz is disliked and even despised by much of Mr Trump’s base because of his long record of liberal positions.
McCarthy shrugs off Jan 6 audio question
ICYMI: CNN’s Manu Raju has been asking Kevin McCarthy about the audio recordings of him discussing communications with Donald Trump after 6 January – and specifically about inconsistencies between what he said on taped conference calls with his members and what Mr Trump has since denied.
Here’s what Mr McCarthy had to say…
Graeme Massie18 May 2022 00:01
Ron DeSantis outlaws protest outside private homes
ICYMI: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill sent to him by state legislators that bans protests outside private homes, drilling down on the right-wing insistence that the law should not tolerate demonstrators who gathered outside the homes of conservative justices and senators to protest the imminent end of Roe v Wade.
Among those whose homes were visited by anti-abortion protesters was Maine Senator Susan Collins, who phoned the police over a message chalked on the sidewalk outside her house.
Graeme Massie17 May 2022 23:15
Lauren Boebert slams companies for offering to help pay for abortions
ICYMI: The uproar over the apparently imminent overturning of Roe v Wade has seen several major companies offer to pay travel costs for women seeking abortions who will have to travel across state lines to get them. In response, far-right Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert had this message:
As many have pointed out, Ms Boebert herself has previously mocked people for taking parental leave after having children.
Graeme Massie17 May 2022 22:11
Trump shares QAnon meme on Truth Social
ICYMI: Donald Trump has gaily seized on Joe Biden’s recent derision of him as the “Great Maga King”, sharing kitschy images of him in dark regalia knocked up by his more zealous fans. But in his eagerness to embrace the label, he has perhaps inadvertently offered up fuel to the fevered imaginations of dogged QAnon believers…
Graeme Massie17 May 2022 21:10
ICYMI: Trump shares QAnon imagery on Truth Social
Since Joe Biden derisively called him the “great Maga king” in remarks last week, Donald Trump has begun semi-ironically embracing dark regal imagery – but a recent meme he’s shared on Truth Social takes things up (or down) a level.
According to screenshots of the meme shared on Twitter on Monday, a “Q” could be seen behind the former president, who was shown seated on a throne and sporting a gold crown in the style of Game of Thrones.
The words “Maga King” also appeared behind Mr Trump in the meme, in reference to US President Joe Biden’s recent remarks about his predecessor’s “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) slogan.
Gino Spocchia has the story.
Andrew Naughtie17 May 2022 18:40
Report: Jan 6 committee preparing for hearings
As the 6 January select committee gears up for what promises to be a dramatic set of hearings over the summer, one question is central to its members’ discussions: the extent to which they need to focus on former president Donald Trump as they piece together the chain of events that led to the worst attack on the Capitol in more than 200 years.
The Washington Post has released an excellent deep-dive report that includes this account of a discussion between two of the panel’s members last month:
Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy (Fla.), insisted the committee should focus less on former president Donald Trump and do more to examine the security and intelligence failures that led to the breach of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. She also urged the committee to look harder at what can be done to prevent another attack, according to people familiar with the matter.
The other member, Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney (Wyo.), argued that the committee should keep an intense focus on the former president.
“Rep. Cheney’s view is that security at the Capitol is a critical part of the investigation, but the Capitol didn’t attack itself,” said Jeremy Adler, a spokesman for Cheney.
The tense discussion — which played out in a conference room tucked inside the world’s largest library, where members posed for pictures with historic texts such as the Gettysburg Address — reflected just one among numerous weighty questions the committee must resolve before nationally televised hearings kick off next month.
Andrew Naughtie17 May 2022 14:25
Joe Biden reverses Trump’s withdrawal of US troops in Somalia
Reversing a decision taken by former President Donald Trump, Joe Biden has approved the redeployment of US troops in Somalia.
BBC reported that the deployment was requested by the Pentagon to support the fight against militant group al-Shabab.
In 2020, Mr Trump withdrew about 700 US troops from Somalia.
Andrew Naughtie17 May 2022 11:45
ICYMI: Pelosi calls Trump a ‘creature’ as she dubs Supreme Court ‘dangerous to US freedoms’
House speaker Nancy Pelosi has claimed that former president Donald Trump’s Supreme Court appointees have made the bench “dangerous to the freedoms” of the country.
She criticised the judges as the court prepares to issue a ruling that could end decades of constitutional protections for abortion care and trigger a wave of laws making abortion illegal in roughly half the US.
Read the full story here:
Maroosha Muzaffar17 May 2022 11:00
With echoes of Trump, GOP splinters over $40B for Ukraine
Signs of Republican resistance are mounting over a $40 billion aid package to Ukraine, a reemergence of the Trump-led isolationist wing of the GOP that’s coming at a crucial moment as the war against the Russian invasion deepens.
Read the full story here:
Maroosha Muzaffar17 May 2022 10:00
Ted Budd looks poised to coast to victory with Trump’s support
North Carolina Congressman Ted Budd is poised to claim victory on Tuesday over the state’s former governor in the race to be the GOP nominee for the seat held by retiring Sen Richard Burr.
His ascendancy is being buoyed by Donald Trump’s endorsement as well as that of the affluent Club for Growth, which has poured millions behind Mr Budd after breaking with the former president and being burned by Josh Mandel’s defeat in Ohio.
Mr Budd’s success despite running against an opponent who started with far greater name recognition is a sign of the clear power that Donald Trump still wields.
Read more in this profile of the race from the Associated Press:
North Carolina Senate race tests Trump’s endorsement power
When Ted Budd won a surprise endorsement from former President Donald Trump last year, he was a little-known congressman running for a Senate seat in North Carolina against some of the state’s most recognizable Republicans, including a former governor
John Bowden17 May 2022 09:00
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